Couple stranded in France amid air traffic chaos told to ‘just sit and wait’
A couple returning from a birthday mini-break via Nice Airport is among the thousands of passengers waiting out heavy delays due to the UK air traffic control glitch.
Hayley and Mark Lees, from Hull, are returning to Liverpool John Lennon Airport after the technical issue affecting British systems.
The couple had been on a four-day break in Monaco where Mark threw his wife a surprise birthday party but they are now enduring a frustrating wait after checking their baggage in.
At one point this afternoon they were waved through to security only for the system to say ‘flight date not recognised’ when they tried to scan their boarding passes, Hayley said.
They and other passengers had to return back inside Côte d’Azur Airport, where the couple’s flight, EZY3472, was meant to leave at 4.35pm local time.
A ‘network wide failure’ affecting computer systems used by the UK’s air traffic control has been resolved but travellers are still experiencing delays.
Hayley, a retired school support worker, told Metro.co.uk: ‘We arrived at the airport at 1pm local time after an amazing holiday and saw the flight tracker app saying there was a 12-hour delay.
‘At check-in, we were the ones who had to tell the staff what the situation was in the UK, they were totally oblivious.
‘We were told to go and come back at 2.30pm, when the check-in desk said we’d just have to wait. At that point the delay was up to 13 hours.
‘There’s not a soul from easyJet other than at the check-in desk, and at one point we were told to make our way to security, but when we tried to scan our passes it said “flight date not recognised”. We were just told to go and find somewhere to sit and wait.
‘I know it can’t be helped, but we’ve not been offered anywhere to sleep, and there’s no one to speak to.
‘We’re going to wait in a restaurant as long as we can, and then we’ll just have to camp out on the floor somewhere.’
After Hayley spoke to Metro.co.uk the estimated departure time was moved forward to 8.54pm tonight, although this is subject to change.
The glitch had stopped air traffic systems from processing flight plans automatically, meaning it had to be done manually.
Five hundred flights into and out of the UK have been cancelled and many more delayed. Among those grounded was BBC presenter Gabby Logan, who tweeted: ‘We could be here for 12 hours. So we sit on the plane and wait.’ Comedian Romesh Ranganathan found himself in a similar situation, writing on Facebook: ‘In many ways I blame myself for trying to enjoy life.’
In a statement this afternoon, National Air Traffic Services, which runs the systems, said: ‘We have identified and remedied the technical issue affecting our flight planning system this morning.
‘We are now working closely with airlines and airports to manage the flights affected as efficiently as possible.
‘Our engineers will be carefully monitoring the system’s performance as we return to normal operations.’
In a post on Facebook, easyJet apologised for the inconvenience and sought to reassure customers affected by the disruption.
The update read: ‘We have been advised of an Air Traffic Control systems failure affecting UK airspace, which is currently causing disruption to flying programmes for airlines operating to and from the UK.
‘We are providing customers on cancelled flights with the option to transfer their flight free of charge or receive a refund and recommend that all passengers flying with us today, regardless of their destination, check the status of their flight on our Flight Tracker at www.easyjet.com/en/flight-tracker for real-time information before travelling to the airport.
‘The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is our highest priority and while these circumstances are outside of our control, we would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused and to reassure customers that we are doing everything possible to minimise the impact of the disruption.’
Metro.co.uk has approached the airline for further comment.
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